What do you look for in purchasing a ball python?

[Staddon]

Hey guys and gals!

Wanting to get an understanding of what people look for when choosing a ball python (or multiple animals).
Do you prefer a heavily multi gened animal or perhaps just a crisp vibrant 2 gene/3 gene animal.

I am hoping to breed a largish collection and to obviously succeed in having regular buyers for my animals I want to know what you guys think.
Leaving aside the fact that the majority of the animals I want to breed are morphs that I love (Clown, bamboo, bongo, leopard, banana and axanthic...if you must know ) but i know it is also good to be aware of whats "hot" and whats not.

Hope you can help!!

[artgecko]

IMO, quality is important... More important than an animal having a lot of genes involved. If I was in your shoes and wanting to start breeding (I assume you already own BPs?), then I would select one project and get maybe 2 females that would work with that project to start growing up and then hunt for the perfect male to go with them.

I like reduced pattern and a lot of contrast, also if a breeder can show you pics of the parent animals that will help tell you how yours might mature. Some BPs hold color a lot better than others, so this could be important in the long run.

Also keep in mind that when you have many genes at play in one clutch, it can be more difficult to accurately label what they are... Especially if you are new to breeding.

Finally, you may want to look at your local market. If you are planning on shipping, then this isn't as big of a factor, but some people sell mostly locally and certain morphs are more popular in certain areas. If you want to do local sales and your local market is slow on BPs (hard to move) then maybe plan on starting small and seeing how your results are before producing a lot of clutches. This also plays into why it is important to breed what you like... you might have to hang onto the entire clutch for a while to move them and make less profit, so it's better to like what you're producing and enjoy the animals.

[StillBP]

Quality and the ability to advance my projects. I prefer 2-4 Gene anything over that gets muddy (usaly)

[Staddon]

IMO, quality is important... More important than an animal having a lot of genes involved. If I was in your shoes and wanting to start breeding (I assume you already own BPs?), then I would select one project and get maybe 2 females that would work with that project to start growing up and then hunt for the perfect male to go with them.

I like reduced pattern and a lot of contrast, also if a breeder can show you pics of the parent animals that will help tell you how yours might mature. Some BPs hold color a lot better than others, so this could be important in the long run.

Also keep in mind that when you have many genes at play in one clutch, it can be more difficult to accurately label what they are... Especially if you are new to breeding.

Finally, you may want to look at your local market. If you are planning on shipping, then this isn't as big of a factor, but some people sell mostly locally and certain morphs are more popular in certain areas. If you want to do local sales and your local market is slow on BPs (hard to move) then maybe plan on starting small and seeing how your results are before producing a lot of clutches. This also plays into why it is important to breed what you like... you might have to hang onto the entire clutch for a while to move them and make less profit, so it's better to like what you're producing and enjoy the animals.

Have had ball pythons throughout my life but at the moment dont have any. However, have the chance to get back into them (ex gf was not a fan) and I have the experience, so looking to breed some interesting morphs.

I think you are right that I should start small. I can see how I fair like that and will be completely ready for any problems that may arise. Perhaps a few female adults (I know a few good breeders with a few breeding adults that i rather like) and a couple of males. I like reduced pattern on certain morphs but contrast is a big thing for me. 2-3 gene animals are more likely to produce that rather than a 6-7 gene animal (I'm sure I will be proven wrong on this by some new combo).

thanks anyway though!!

[Staddon]

Quality and the ability to advance my projects. I prefer 2-4 Gene anything over that gets muddy (usaly)

Yeah I have plans for certain projects and would like to set them in motion sooner rather than later. Any hatchlings I produce I would like to be able to use for other projects.

[PythonBabes]

Those heavily gened ball pythons tend to get all muddy and no offense to anybody, quite ugly as grown snakes. Why do you think when advertising people only show babies fresh out of the egg, and never show an example of it fullgrown ??

I'll stick to quality 2-3 gene that stays good looking as the snake ages.

[Staddon]

Those heavily gened ball pythons tend to get all muddy and no offense to anybody, quite ugly as grown snakes. Why do you think when advertising people only show babies fresh out of the egg, and never show an example of it fullgrown ??

I'll stick to quality 2-3 gene that stays good looking as the snake ages.

Agreed!

'Clown firefly', 'leopard Mochi' and 'bamboo enchi YB' are some targets I really want to hit!! All nice 3 genes that grow up still looking great.

[PythonBabes]

Anything clown is good, its actually my favorite one gene!

[SPIDERBALL]

I just look to see if they are healthy. I don't care about genes or anything, or breeding, or any of that. I only have them for pets.

[MasonC2K]

I think this is really just personal preference as a buyer. There's no right or wrong way as long as the animal is healthy.

But as far as breeding goes, I wouldn't go about it that way. Breed what you want to breed. Not what other people want you to breed.